1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,840 This is Hacker Public Radio episode 3,910 for Friday the 28th of July 2023. 2 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,200 Today's show is entitled Playing Civilization 2. 3 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,920 It is part of the series computer strategy games. 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:26,480 It is hosted by Ahu Ka and is about 16 minutes long. 5 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,120 It carries a clean flag. 6 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:40,920 The summary is some hints for playing Civilization 2. 7 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:47,600 Hello, this is Ahu Ka for Hacker Public Radio and I am excited to welcome you to another 8 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:56,880 episode in the series I'm doing on gaming strategy gaming and in this I'm going to 9 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:06,040 return to Civilization 2 and I want to give just some hints about the gaming now. 10 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,240 This is not a full-fledged strategy guide. 11 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:15,840 There is one on the Civilization wiki, there's a link in the show notes for that. 12 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,440 So if you really want to get into it you can. 13 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:25,440 But these are just some general suggestions, then things that will make you more successful. 14 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,440 First keeping your cities happy is very important. 15 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:35,200 If you don't do this they can go into unrest, the mayor will flee in panic and if you 16 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,560 don't correct it right away your government will fall. 17 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:44,600 Now this happiness issue is in all of the Sith games, though the mechanics may change 18 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,760 depending on the version. 19 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:53,600 Now in the early stages you want to build a temple in each city and once you research 20 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:59,600 monotheism I would recommend building Michelangelo's chapel which gives you a cathedral in 21 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,960 every city which is a very handy thing to have. 22 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:11,960 Now the thing about cathedrals that makes them valuable is that a cathedral in a city will 23 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:16,720 take three unhappy citizens and make them content. 24 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:22,280 Now if you can't build this wonder you would have to build a cathedral in a city to get 25 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,240 the same effect. 26 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:29,280 Now you can also increase happiness by increasing the funding for luxuries or by turning 27 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,160 some of your citizens into entertainers. 28 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:38,320 entertainers are a good short term solution but they reduce your food production and 29 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,000 trade because they are not working tiles. 30 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,560 So I would consider them temporary. 31 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:50,120 Now the last way to manage this is to keep your cities very small because as they grow the 32 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:56,560 added citizens are likely to be unhappy subject to of course the above modifications 33 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:58,040 that you can do. 34 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,000 Now this happens more quickly as you go to higher difficulty levels. 35 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:07,840 At the lowest level which is chieftain you can have six citizens before this kicks in. 36 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,960 While at the highest level which is deity you only get one happy citizen when you found 37 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:14,560 a city. 38 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,440 So learning to manage this is very important. 39 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:23,160 For a fuller discussion the civilization wiki has a good article again link in the show 40 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,160 notes. 41 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:31,120 Now the next thing to consider is the wonders of the world. 42 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,760 I find the more significant incentive too than in the original in terms of their impact 43 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:37,400 on the game. 44 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,720 There are some that I always try to get. 45 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,480 First is the pyramids which is unlocked when you discover masonry. 46 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:49,480 It counts as a granary in each of your cities and granaries help you grow your population 47 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,160 faster. 48 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,560 This matters for the kind of victory you are going after since there is a strategy 49 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:03,040 to keep city sizes low, settle a lot of them and pump out units for a conquest victory. 50 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:09,000 But if you are going for a science victory large populations are very helpful here. 51 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,800 And the pyramids never expire so you get this benefit all the way through the game. 52 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:19,040 Another early wonder worth getting if you can is the great library. 53 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:23,520 This grants you knowledge of any technology or science advance that two other civs have 54 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:25,480 discovered. 55 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,920 For a science victory this is particularly important. 56 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:34,560 I often get it not because I need help from my science but because it will keep it away 57 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:43,000 from the others because if I'm going for a science victory I will probably be leading researcher. 58 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:48,400 But I don't want anyone else getting the advantage of all of my hard work and getting 59 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:53,120 the great library slows down the opposition. 60 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,000 Now there are two things to keep in mind if you are making wonders part of your strategy. 61 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:02,120 The first is you can use caravans to add production to a wonder. 62 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,960 And that means researching trade should be a priority since that unlock the ability to build 63 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:13,440 caravans and you should also be building caravans to create trade routes. 64 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:17,720 You should aim to get three trade routes in every city and the earlier the better since 65 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,800 the revenue goes up the longer the routes are active. 66 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,600 This can lead to a very healthy treasury. 67 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:30,480 And as we mentioned previously Sid Meier has said that money is the key to this game. 68 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:37,480 In the case of wonders in sift two only you get a warning when an opponent is about 69 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,120 to complete a wonder the next turn. 70 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:45,480 If it's when you are interested in and you have enough money you can buy it. 71 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:50,120 Now generally this would happen when you have already built a fair portion of it since 72 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:53,680 the cost goes down when there is less left to build. 73 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,320 But having the money on hand gives you flexibility. 74 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:03,640 Now some other wonders I like to get when I can include Michelangelo's chapel as we discussed 75 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,360 previously which never expires. 76 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:12,160 Then there is Magellan's expedition which gives your ships two extra movement points and 77 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:18,000 all new ships are veteran wind built that also never expires. 78 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,160 Leonardo's workshop will automatically upgrade all of your units. 79 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,360 It does expire when automobile is researched. 80 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:31,400 But by that point there aren't a lot more unit advances anyway. 81 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:37,040 Adam Smith's trading company pays all of the maintenance charges on buildings that require 82 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:45,200 one gold maintenance per turn and that's most of them so it's a big boost to your treasury. 83 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:51,320 And finally the Hoover Dam counts as a hydro plant in all cities on the same continent. 84 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,800 Now all wonders have some benefits so I have highlighted the ones I find I go for 85 00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:00,240 the most often and you will never get everything you want. 86 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,600 But if you have a large treasury and can build lots of caravans you'll get more than 87 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,920 your share and it can help you to snowball. 88 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:14,080 Now the easiest way I found a win this game is to build wide in other words to build lots 89 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:15,960 of cities. 90 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:22,080 Cities are still the basic entities in CIF-2 as in CIV-1 and it is cities that support your 91 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:26,400 military units and let you build buildings and wonders. 92 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:31,440 The opposite approach is to build tall in other words build just a few cities that are 93 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,880 highly developed. 94 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,960 And the ultimate in this approach is what is called the one city challenge. 95 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:44,600 Now this is very difficult since the idea is to win with just one city and people have 96 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,160 done this in every version of CIF. 97 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,440 But you have to be a real expert to pull this off. 98 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:56,520 So for a beginner I would say building wide is the suggested approach. 99 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:02,400 I will frequently make an early gamble and settle three cities before I build my first 100 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:04,920 real military unit. 101 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:09,920 You can usually get away with this on a standard map since no other players that close 102 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:14,040 and barbarians are not active right away. 103 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:19,800 If you do get wiped out right away just restart or start a new game. 104 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:24,560 I usually do a save right on the first turn in case I need to start over. 105 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,360 You always start with a knowledge of how to build militia units. 106 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,720 But sometimes you already know bronze working with let you build the Falanks, the best 107 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,120 early game defensive unit. 108 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:40,160 But the first technology I usually go for is horseback riding. 109 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:45,800 This is because the horseman unit travels faster than units on foot and that means I can 110 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,280 do exploring. 111 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,680 Caring is important for several reasons. 112 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:54,720 First you want to find out who you nearby opponents are. 113 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,400 Second you want to scout out locations for new cities. 114 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,600 Third you want to explore the goody huts on the map. 115 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:07,960 They are the best source of gold early in the game, frequently giving you 50 gold when you 116 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:09,560 explore them. 117 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:14,640 They can also give you knowledge of a technology which saves you time on researching it. 118 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:20,320 In occasionally you will find an advanced tribe that will join your service as a city. 119 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:24,800 But if you are unlucky you will awaken the horde of barbarians which usually means the 120 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,040 death of you are exploring unit. 121 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:34,800 Now there are two ways to win in Sift 2 just as in Sift 1, Conquest or Science. 122 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:39,400 To gain a conquest victory you need to wipe out all of your opponents. 123 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:45,560 But to do that you need to keep up with science since that is how you improve your military. 124 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:52,280 Now in the early game the best defense is Falanks behind city walls and the best offense 125 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,520 is Legion, Chariot or Elephant. 126 00:09:55,520 --> 00:10:01,160 Now a couple of fortified Falanks units behind city walls will generally withstand two of 127 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,720 the offensive units. 128 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:08,440 So a conquest victory generally means you need to build lots of offensive units and that 129 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,120 means lots of cities. 130 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:16,040 And some of those cities probably need to focus on science at any given time or you may find 131 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,960 your ancient chariots going up against medieval pikemen. 132 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:26,560 Now you can build barracks in your cities and that will make the units you build in them 133 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:33,640 veteran which gives them a 50% bonus in barrel in battle. 134 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:38,920 But as in Sift 1 barracks become obsolete twice. 135 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:44,440 First when you research gunpowder and the second time when you research the automobile. 136 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:49,680 But Sift 2 is kinder in that the game automatically sells the obsolete barracks for you 137 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:52,920 and puts the money in your treasury. 138 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:58,320 Now if you're in the medieval period, pikemen are the best defensive unit and knights 139 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,320 and crusaders are the best offensive units. 140 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:07,360 But as before, two veteran pikemen behind city walls will withstand any two comparable 141 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,200 offensive units. 142 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:16,760 Now after gunpowder you get musket men which are the best defensive units and cannon 143 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:25,520 which are the best offensive units and then as you research further it ratchets up to cavalry 144 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:30,080 as an offensive unit riflemen as a defensive unit. 145 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:35,560 And then with the automobile you unlock armor, one of the best offensive units and a bit 146 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:39,600 later mechanized infantry the top defensive unit. 147 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:45,640 So you need to keep up with science or you will find your units are outmatched on the battlefield. 148 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:51,640 And knowing that two good defensive units behind city walls will usually be two good offensive 149 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,320 units of comparable power. 150 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:59,760 You'll see that you need to build a lot of units if you plan to go conquering. 151 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,280 Now for a science victory. 152 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:07,360 The ultimate aim is to land a spaceship full of colonists at Alfa Centauri before anyone 153 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:08,360 else does. 154 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,840 But that does not mean you can neglect your military. 155 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:16,960 You need to at least have a strong enough military to either deter or punish aggression 156 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,200 from your opponents. 157 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:24,760 And one wrinkle is that if your capital is captured before you have landed at Alfa Centauri, 158 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,120 it wipes out your spaceship. 159 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:32,560 And that can be as simple as firing a nuclear ICBM, which is unlocked by building the Manhattan 160 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:34,600 Project wonder. 161 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:39,520 Send that to your capital and send in paratroops to occupy the city. 162 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:45,760 Getting a lot of science involves building libraries, universities, and research labs. 163 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,640 In addition, some wonders had to science. 164 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:52,440 The first is the Great Library mentioned earlier. 165 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:59,880 Now two of them, Copernicus's observatory in Isaac Newton's College, only affect the city 166 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:01,840 where they're built. 167 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:06,280 So if you're going for a science victory, you'll get the optimal results. 168 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:12,480 If you designate one city as your primary science city, and if you can build both of them 169 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:15,040 in that city. 170 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:23,480 The Darwin's Voyage gives you two free advances, and the city program is your a free research lab in each city. 171 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,560 Other that you can create specialists. 172 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:33,880 Note that you can create a specialist by clicking on a tile that is being worked in the city screen. 173 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:39,600 That removes the person from your labor pool, in terms of a new and a retainer who sort 174 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:45,800 of looks like Elvis, and then if you click on the Elvis figure you can get a scientist who looks like Einstein. 175 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:50,840 And one more click will give you a tax collector. 176 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,840 Finally, you need to pay attention to productivity. 177 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,880 You should develop each tile in your cities as much as possible. 178 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:05,560 Roads and later railroads not only facilitate movement, but also increase the trade generated 179 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:09,640 on the tile, adding to your revenue. 180 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:14,240 Hills and mountains can be mined, which adds to your production capacity. 181 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:22,160 In irrigation, later if you research additional technology farms, add to your food output 182 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,640 and help grow your population. 183 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:31,200 Counting the city itself, each city can work 21 tiles, and that means you have to get 184 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:36,360 to a population of at least 21 to maximize your output from a city. 185 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:40,440 And you increase population by increasing food production. 186 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,200 It takes a long time to get cities at large, of course. 187 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:49,000 So if early on you have a city of size 5, you're doing pretty good. 188 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:55,280 Now as for general production displayed as shields, mines increase this if they are worked 189 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,360 and forests do as well if they are worked. 190 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:06,000 Later on you can build a factory and then with further technology, a manufacturing plant 191 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,120 to increase this more. 192 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:10,760 Proactivity is important for all games. 193 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,720 If you're going for conquest, it means you can pump out units faster and overwhelm your 194 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:16,280 opponents. 195 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,860 For a science victory, you can be building your libraries, universities, and research lab 196 00:15:20,860 --> 00:15:22,560 spaster. 197 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:28,680 And for getting those juicy wonders, high productivity cities can not only do them faster, but 198 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:34,320 other cities can pump out caravans that you can use to build them even faster. 199 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:39,360 Your power plant will also help with this, but power plants generate pollution, which 200 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:47,520 will show up as a blotch on the tile, settlers and later on when you get the right technology 201 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:52,000 engineers can clean this up, but it takes a few turns. 202 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,440 And until it has cleaned up, it reduces output on the tile. 203 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:04,000 Now you can reduce the pollution by building mass transit, a recycling center, and finally 204 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,320 a solar plant. 205 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:11,120 And hydroplanes give you power without adding the pollution in any way, one reason why the 206 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,120 Hoover dam wonder is so powerful. 207 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:19,800 Now nuclear plants generate normal pollution, but there is the chance of a meltdown event 208 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,040 which generates its own kind of pollution. 209 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:32,440 So this is the basics for SIV-2, but I also want to discuss SIV-2 test of time, which 210 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:39,360 is a variant that came out later, and so that will be the next article. 211 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:46,280 But this is a hook up for Hacker Public Radio signing off and encouraging you as always 212 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,080 to support free software. 213 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:48,480 Bye-bye. 214 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:56,640 You have been listening to Hacker Public Radio at Hacker Public Radio.org. 215 00:16:56,640 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